clothes Archives - Page 8 of 8

The Napkin Apron

May 24, 2011 By Taylor 4 Comments

Do you have an obsession a healthy love for aprons like I do (seriously, I have too many)? Well here is the easiest apron you will ever make. I made this for a craft competition and the theme was “Under $5″… I made this for $4.97. Easy and cheap; what’s not to like?

All you need is:

2 cloth Napkins (I found these on sale at World Market)

2-3 yards of cotton twill tape

One napkin will be left alone for the bottom half of the apron. The other napkin will make up the top of the apron and the ruffles.

To make the top, serge and sew (or just sew) two of the sides so that your dimensions are 10″x10″. The best part of this apron is that the napkins are almost totally sewn for you!

Now you need to sew the top square to the bottom square. Center the top square on the bottom square with right sides together and sew.

Sew down the seam that you just made all the way across the bottom square.

Add the twill tape to the top of the square, hold it up to your body to determine the length. Then do the same for the side straps, make sure to tie it in a bow because it will need to be longer than you think. Remember you can always cut more later but you cant add on to it.

Now, you will have over half of the top square left over and that will be used for our ruffle. Sew it into one large rectangle and ruffle it however you like. You will need to piece two long pieces together but you wont see the seam because of the ruffleyness (new word of the day?). I like to use my serger because I don’t have a ruffle foot…whomp whomp whomp. Make sure you make two different ruffles, one for the bottom of the apron and one for the top. With the serger, I have to kind of “pleat” as I sew because it doesn’t do a very tight ruffle. Sew the ruffle to the bottom and the top of the apron.

So simple right? It is my new painting apron because I already have too many cooking ones and I don’t garden.

Puff Paint Tee

May 21, 2011 By Taylor 12 Comments

I saw something so amazingly pretty last week on Pinterest. Have you seen the Alisa Burke Blog? Its one of my new favorites. So, I had to replicate her Puff Paint Embellished Tee. I know what you are thinking, Puff Paint, like for making crafts in elementary school. Yes, but it is more sophisticated than that!

Didn’t it turn out pretty? Here is the original. It is super easy.

Start with a plain tee shirt or tank and tape it down so it wont move on you.

Add a paper bag to the inside of the shirt so the paint wont bleed.

Just like Alisa, I started with dots around the collar.

From there you can just doodle a design as it comes to you, so fun. I have a re-discovered my love for puff paint.

LOVE

Little Boy Shorts

April 26, 2011 By Taylor 17 Comments

This year I had the bright idea that I would dress my boys in matching shorts for Easter. I mean how much longer are two boys going to let me do this, right (but really how much longer)? So, I found some adorable plaid fabric and decided to make them some Little Boy Shorts. I know that the best way to make a pattern is to take another article of clothing apart and trace the pieces, so that is just what I did. Add length to the top (about 1.5″) and the the bottom of the shorts (about 3″) My sons wear 2T and 6mo.

Supplies:
1/2 yd fabric
1/2” elastic
white paper for pattern
safety pin & sewing pins

1 – Trace an old pair of shorts onto a piece of paper
2 – Pin the pattern pieces to your fabric
3 – Cut the new pieces out

This is the first pair of shorts I have made for the boys and I kind of just sat there after this step. I had a million ideas for the order of construction but because I was making these the night before Easter (oops) I didn’t have time for that. I remembered that one of my favorite blogs MADE has a tutorial for a Basic Kids Pants and thought it had to be pretty similar. So thanks MADE!

She says the easiest thing (which totally makes sense) is to sew up the crotch of the pants first because they are already together. If you have a fabric with a right and wrong side, flip your fabric before sewing.

After every step, serge the seam if you have a serger and press with your iron for a more professional look.

Next, pin and sew the inseam together. Then again,serge the seam and press it down.

Next, pin and sew the legs together. Serge that seam as well.

Next, I serged around the top of the pants and the bottoms of the legs because I had to try them on the boys and I didn’t want them to fray. Dana (from MADE) said that the front of the pants will be lower than the back, which is something I had never noticed. She said it will make for a more comfortable fit, so on the 6mo shorts, I actually just cut a little dip after I took this picture.

Next, we will add the elastic. Measure your little boy’s waist and add one inch. For example my oldest son’s waist is 18.5″ so I cut my elastic to 19.5″. Fold down the top of the pants with about 1/4″ overlap and use the elastic as your guide as you pin. Leave an opening of about 1″ and take the elastic out. Sew to top of the shorts closed but remember to leave that 1″ opening to put the elastic back in.

Now insert the elastic using a safety pin. Make sure it is flat all the way around. The elastic will be shorter in length that the shorts. Scrunch the shorts up, pull the elastic out a little and sew the elastic together. I used a zig-zag stitch in 2 places to make sure the elastic stays together.

Lastly, turn the shorts inside out and sew the bottom of the shorts. I sewed in two places. On the top of the serged line and on the bottom right next to the seam.

I added my fabric labels to the back.

Look at these sweet boys in their matching Little Boy Shorts.

Perfect for Egg Hunting

Stay tuned next week for an exciting project because I am a contestant on Season 3 of One Month to Win it! Woo Hoo!

It’s Rodeo Y’all – Texas Onesie

March 14, 2011 By Taylor 11 Comments

It’s spring break here in Houston and you know what that means…. Rodeo Time! Although Clyde has no idea what that means, I think it means I should break out the ole’ Silhouette for her first project! So I did!

I have seen shirts like this before with the capital as a heart in the state but Houston isn’t the capital of Texas so that wasn’t going to work. I also found a picture of Texas in the Silhouette Online Store, but again it had a star over Austin, not what I was looking for. So I had to get clever…

I googled “Texas Outline” under images and when I found one that look clear, I saved it to my computer. Then in the Silhouette Studio, I opened up the Texas picture. I played around and I found this awesome feature; The Tracing Tool. It allows you to trace around a picture that you already have on your computer. So I added the little heart and selected “Trace around Outer Edge”.

Here is what my picture looked like:

Next, I cut a piece of Freezer Paper and loaded it onto my carrier page.

Then I hit cut! It was so exciting… Now if you don’t have a Silhouette, you can just cut this shape out with scissors or an Exacto knife. Next, you need to iron down the shape’s outline to the onesie. Don’t hold the iron down too long, I have made that mistake and the freezer paper gets rumply. Make sure to iron around all of the detailed edges to form a nice seal. Don’t forget to iron down you little heart on the inside of your state.

Now its time for the fabric paint. I meant to buy “matte” red paint but as you can see I must have grabbed the “metallic” so it had kind of a shimmery look to it. Clyde it too little to be mad at me for that :)

(oops)

I did two coats and waited about 20 mins between. Don’t forget to put some newspaper or a paper bag inside the onesie so it wont bleed.

The next step is my favorite part, for some reason there is something SOOO satisfying about pulling the freezer paper off to me! Of course wait until it is completely dry.

Lastly, you have to heat set the fabric paint. There might be some instructions on your fabric paint about how to do this. I looked online and found some. You have to use something between the paint and the iron like a hand towel or something. I ironed mine for about a minute total moving the iron around the whole time. Some people said to do it for 4-5 minutes but that seemed really long to me.

I love my Silhouette! Now on another note, don’t try to stage a photo shoot with a hungry baby…. (I promise he likes his Texas Onesie, the boy just loves to eat!)